


War and Peace

by ami_ven



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, Established Relationship, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 18:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2035494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Are you thinking about retiring?” Rodney asked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	War and Peace

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "mcsheplets" prompt #181 "peace"

“Okay,” said Rodney, the fifth night in a row that he came back very late from the lab and found John asleep at his desk, his laptop in stand-by mode beside him. “I know I’m the last person who has any right to say anything about working long and/or odd hours— throwing stones, glass houses, you know— but maybe you need to talk to Woolsey about this.”

“What?” said John, muzzily, his brain needing a few extra seconds to follow Rodney’s train of thought. “No, no, it’s not paperwork. It’s just… It’s…”

Rodney leaned against the desk, so that his hip bumped John’s elbow. “As long as it’s not divorce papers, you don’t have to tell me.”

“No,” said John, with a snorted laugh. “You’re stuck with me, remember?”

“I remember,” said Rodney, smiling.

John smiled back for a moment, then sighed. “It’s been five years since we stopped going on regular missions,” he said. “And that last data-burst had some stuff about the changes to the standard retirement packages— cost of living raises, pension plans, that sort of thing.”

“Are you thinking about retiring?” Rodney asked, not worried or alarmed, just curious.

“Maybe,” John admitted. “I thought about retiring before they decide not to give me a choice. But I’ve been in the military my whole adult life, Rodney. But with the Wraith almost completely under control, and some choice comments on my last few physicals, I just…”

He gestured, helplessly, at his desk and Rodney looked at the notes and pamphlets strewn across it. “Aptitude tests?” he asked, incredulous. “What do you need those for?”

“My only marketable skills are actual marksmanship, piloting alien spacecraft and surviving suicide missions,” John drawled. “Not really useful in civilian life.”

“But you’re…” Rodney faltered. “I thought…”

John caught his hand, lacing their fingers together. “I know I can’t be in the Air Force forever,” he said. “I’ve already made it four pay grades higher than I ever thought I would. But I don’t know how to do anything else.” John paused, looking down at their joined hands, then said, so quietly that Rodney almost didn’t hear him, “What if killing is the only thing I’m good at?”

None of Rodney’s arguments could counter the sheer hopelessness in John’s voice, so he didn’t even try. He just kissed him, firm and insistent, the kind of kiss that, before he’d tried it, he’d thought would bring out John’s competitiveness, but now he knew would only compel him to be gentler, to slide his free hand up against Rodney’s jaw to slow them down and savor the moment.

“You’re not a killer, John,” Rodney said, fiercely, when they broke for air. “You have so, so much more to offer the universe than fighting and flying.”

“But what do I _do_?” John asked.

“Retire, if you want to,” said Rodney. “Take a year to get your PhD— you might need two, you’re not quite as brilliant as I am— and I’ll leave Radek in charge of the tedious day-to-day crap, while you and I use all of our time to work together and discover the McKay-Sheppard Unified Theory.”

“Sheppard-McKay,” John corrected, but he was smiling. “And you’ll probably have to add Jeannie in there, too.”

“Yes, yes, fine. Now, can you please stop freaking out? You can do anything you want to, John, anything at all. You could do _nothing_ , even, just stay here all day and read bad Russian literature.”

John’s smile broadened. “You want me to be your kept man, McKay?”

There was some very serious appeal to that idea, and any other time, Rodney would have agreed, just to see John’s reaction, but he knew that wasn’t what John needed to hear, just now.

“I want you to do whatever you want,” he said, honestly. “As long as you still want me.”

“I’ll _always_ want you,” John promised, and kissed him again.

THE END


End file.
